Systems and methods for managing organizational information

ABSTRACT

Novel and useful systems and methods for identifying, organizing and displaying organizational information are provided for multiple users to define organizational relationships associated with an organization. The organizational relationships are included in a set of organizational relationships and stored as organizational data in a computer-readable medium for future access. The organizational data is used for a variety of purposes, such as generating visual depictions of the organizational relationships.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/211,050, filed Mar. 26, 2009, the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The invention relates generally to the field of organizationalinformation and, more particularly, to an approach for identifying,organizing, displaying, and utilizing the roles, people, andrelationships that exist in an organization.

Humans organize themselves into cooperative groups and organizationssuch as companies, joint ventures, partnerships, trusts, project teams,human families, clubs, unions, societies, political parties,governments, charitable organizations, and armies. Whether of apersonal, professional, or political nature, each such organizationinvolves contributors who are affiliated with the organization by birth,invitation, employment, or voluntary involvement. Contributors occupyvarious roles in the governance, management, operations, andadministration of the organization.

The roles and the contributors who occupy them interact with each otherwithin the context of relationships. These relationships, whetherformally defined as part of an established hierarchy or informallyagreed upon based on a pattern of interactions, involve delegation ofactivities and tasks that are undertaken on behalf of the organization.The activities and tasks may be assigned to and/or performed by acontributor based on their role within the organization or theirparticular skill set or qualifications. People may be affiliated with anorganization as members or as external contributors, and theirdesignated role may reflect this status. For example, a member of acompany may be a manager or an officer while an external contributor maybe an independent contractor or a consultant.

In each such organization, there is a need to organize and visualize thevarious contributors, roles, and relationships to ensure efficiency inthe organization's operations and management. To this end, organizationstypically create and use hierarchical organization charts and treescontaining visual depictions. Organizations may also create and usevarious other types of depictions of themselves in the form ofrelationship diagrams, task descriptions, project plans and othersimilar graphical and illustrative views, apart from organization chartsand family trees. In some organizations, these tools are designed by acentral authority within the organization to which such work has beenexpressly assigned either as an ongoing role or as a one-time task. Inother organizations, the task of creating these tools is dispersed tothe various groups, departments, and divisions within the organization,each of which creates and maintains a semi-independent visualization ofits own group, department, or division. In either case, a diagrammer ordiagrammers typically administer a top-down process of creatingvisualizations depicting the relationships that comprise an entireorganization, group, department, or division.

Although the top-down nature of such processes is intended to ensurestructural consistency and design efficiency, such currently used toolsand approaches result in visualizations that are often flawed in variousrespects. Moreover, recent developments in law, technology, and commercehave highlighted the deficiencies of existing approaches to modelingorganizational relationships and further diminished their utility.Organizations are now facing new demands on how they build theircultures, how they collect and make available information relating totheir hierarchy and management structure, and how they ensure thewell-being and safety of their contributors. Regulatory and other legalrequirements relating to the governance and internal control processesemployed by organizations have increased significantly in recent years.In addition, organizations are facing new pressures and opportunities toform external collaborations, to foster internal collaboration ormentorship, to outsource work and operate globally, and to utilize newtechnologies for communication inside and outside the organization.

One flaw in visualizations produced by current methods is that thevisualization content may be incomplete or inaccurate, either as to thedisplayed contributors, which displayed relationships are shown, or whatdisplayed attributes are part of the visualization. This may result fromthe diagrammer not having access to or not receiving all the necessaryinput information, since in many cases only the internal contributorsthemselves know or have access to such input information but do notcommunicate it to the diagrammer. This problem is amplified by thetop-down nature of the current methods of creating and maintainingvisualizations, which in some cases deters internal contributors fromeither noticing or communicating errors in their personal relationshipsand data. Current visualization processes typically do not provide aneasy way to verify individual relationships and data through theindividuals directly involved or to document their validation within thevisualizations.

In other instances, visualizations that may have been correct at thetime they were created by the diagrammer shortly thereafter become, andremain, out of date as to the displayed contributors, relationships orattributes. This is due to the dynamic nature of every organization,with its changing internal contributors, the assignment of internalcontributors to new positions or roles, and the projects and tasks ofinternal contributors being revised, newly implemented or terminated bythe organization. When the ongoing maintenance or administration of thevisualizations is assigned to one or a few individuals as thediagrammer(s), the accuracy of a visualization becomes subject to adiagrammer's ability to update, and/or a diagrammer's personalassumptions as to when and to what degree the visualization should beupdated. Moreover, even when a human resources database is used to helpcapture input information for each internal contributor and to speed upvisualization updates, it is often difficult for the diagrammer to stayinformed with regard to informal changes and evolution in roles,relationships, responsibilities, and attributes within an internalcontributor team or a group making up part of the whole organization.This is particularly true when such changes occur locally within a givenworking team. Also, even when a visualization is updated, it isdifficult to determine which particular version or update of thevisualization is complete and accurate during which period of time.

Another flaw of current, top-down procedures for creating visualizationsis that they provide contributors with few or no options to specify andupdate the content of their own node or profile within thevisualization. In addition to organizational information attributes thatare standard and mandatory (e.g., company phone extension, company emailaddress, office number, etc.), many contributors may wish to providenon-organizational attributes to make themselves more accessible andease collaboration among contributors. For instance, a contributor maywish to provide personal contact attributes such as mobile phonenumbers, links to profiles on social networking sites, and usernames oninstant messaging systems, most of which are outside the control of theorganization. This flaw has become more pressing as organizationsincreasingly have or interact with contributors who are mobile, workingfrom home offices, remote locations and the like.

Still another deficiency or limitation in the visualizations produced bycurrent methods is that they do not identify or provide informationabout the many relationships that an internal contributor may have withexternal contributors. Examples of such external contributors includecollaborators on projects that are not part of the organization's coreactivities, service providers and suppliers that contribute to theorganization's activities and operations, caretakers, professionaladvisors, and consultants. Since external contributors and/or theirrelationships with each internal contributor are often not listed in anyformal database or otherwise identified by the organization's records,the diagrammer has little or no input information about their existenceor nature to incorporate into the visualization. Alternatively, thediagrammer may not realize the importance or need for incorporatingwithin the visualization the external contributors and theirrelationships with the organization's internal contributors, since thediagrammer does not know about and/or participate directly in suchrelationships.

An example of a visualization created by current, top-down approaches isillustrated in FIG. 1. The visualization may be drawn by a diagrammerusing a drawing program or similar tool. The example of FIG. 1 includesan external consultant 110 and a “dotted line” relationship 102. Thedotted line relationship 102 conveys that contributor Jan Man is asecondary supervisor to contributor Amy King in addition to her primarysupervisor Clara Ida. To create such a chart, the diagrammer would haveto be informed of, and manually add to the chart, both the relationship102 and the contributions of the external consultant 110. The diagrammerwould need to be aware of a relationship 104 between a coordinator 108and the external consultant 110, even though the coordinator 108actually supports many individuals in the organization and does notreport to individual 106 from a human resources administration point ofview. Moreover, the diagrammer would need to be aware and conscious ofthe subtle differences between seemingly similar internal relationshipssuch as Clara Ida's primary supervisory relationship with Amy King andJan Man's secondary supervisory relationship 102 with Amy King.

For these reasons, there is a need for an approach to managingorganizational information that retains the advantages of the top-downdesign process while addressing the disadvantages of that process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Similar reference numbers are used throughout the figures to referencelike components and/or features.

FIG. 1 depicts an example visualization created according to top-downapproaches.

FIG. 2 depicts an example computing environment in which the systems andmethods discussed herein are implemented.

FIG. 3 depicts an example computer system configured to perform themethods described herein according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram illustrating an example procedure fordefining and aggregating organizational relationships according to anembodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts an example set of organizational relationships betweennodes according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 depicts an example structural hierarchy of node attributesaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 depicts an example visual representation of a profileincorporating a preferred contact attribute and an instance of acommunications channel in operation.

FIG. 8 depicts an example visual depiction of organizationalrelationships according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 depicts a block diagram illustrating an example procedure forgenerating a visual depiction of organizational relationships from asystem perspective according to an embodiment.

FIG. 10 depicts a block diagram illustrating an example procedure forgenerating a visual depiction of organizational relationships from auser perspective according to an embodiment.

FIG. 11 depicts a block diagram illustrating an example procedure forgenerating a visual depiction of organizational relationships from asystem perspective according to an embodiment.

FIG. 12 depicts an example structural hierarchy of user rights andprivileges attributes according to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 depicts a block diagram illustrating an example procedure forgenerating a visual depiction of organizational relationships from asystem perspective according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14A depicts an example set of nodes representing organizationaldata and their associated attributes according to an embodiment.

FIGS. 14B and 14C depict an example set of data structures representingorganizational relationships according to an embodiment.

FIG. 15 depicts an example visual depiction of organizationalrelationships according to an embodiment.

FIG. 16 depicts an example visual representation of a user profileaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 17 depicts an example visual representation of a user profileaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 18 depicts an example visual depiction displaying the various rolesand relationships of a contributor.

FIG. 19 depicts an example visual depiction displaying the variousrelationships of a contributor.

FIG. 20 depicts a block diagram illustrating an example procedure fordefining and confirming organizational relationships according to anembodiment.

FIGS. 21A and 21B depict a series of screenshots of an example userinterface within which a user manages organizational relationships byexecuting a number of operations.

FIGS. 22A, 22B, and 22C depict data structures corresponding to theorganizational data represented in FIGS. 21A and 21B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments discussed herein relate generally to systems and methodsfor identifying, organizing and displaying various organizationalrelationships. The invention may be applied to the relationships of anorganization of any size, complexity, or purpose. The exemplaryembodiments are provided to illustrate the invention and should not beconstrued as limiting its scope.

In the following disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practicedwithout such specific details. In other instances, well-known elementshave been illustrated in schematic or block diagram form in order not toobscure the invention in unnecessary detail. Additionally, for the mostpart, details concerning network communications, data structures, andthe like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not considerednecessary to obtain a complete understanding of the invention, and areconsidered to be within the understanding of persons of ordinary skillin the relevant art. It is further noted that all functions describedherein may be performed in either hardware or software, or a combinationthereof, unless indicated otherwise. Certain terms are used throughoutthe following description and claims to refer to particular systemcomponents. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, components may bereferred to by different names. This document does not intend todistinguish between components that differ in name, but not function. Inthe following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including”,“comprising”, and “incorporating” are used in an open-ended fashion, andthus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . .”. Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either anindirect or direct electrical or communicative connection. Thus, if afirst device couples to a second device, that connection may be througha direct connection, or through an indirect connection via other devicesand connections.

The invention offers a number of advantages over the prior art. Asdescribed in the foregoing discussion, present approaches toidentifying, organizing, and displaying organizational relationshipshave a number of significant disadvantages stemming from their top-downnature. However, some aspect of top-down or distributed administrationis necessary to ensure the consistency and coherence of data andvisualizations. Thus, in order to retain the advantages of top-downtechniques without succumbing to their drawbacks, the present approachis implemented as a computerized framework within which individualcontributors can create and manage profiles and relationships betweencontributors, roles, and teams. A user may edit a profile correspondingto their, or to another contributor, role or team, and managerelationships within the organization involving their, or othercontributors, roles and teams in accordance with their seniority orposition within the organization. The data entered by contributors isstored, for example, in a computer-readable medium and used to create avisual depiction of the contributors, roles, teams, and relationshipsassociated with an organization. The visual depiction may includeprofiles and relationships corresponding to the contributors of anorganization. Alternatively, the profiles and relationships maycorrespond to roles and may be viewed and managed independently of thecontributors who occupy them. The visual depiction may further includeteams represented as a collection of profiles corresponding to thecontributors and/or roles that describe a team or as a single profilecorresponding to an entire team. The visual depiction may also includevisual indicators of various attributes associated with the contributor,role, team, or relationship. In various embodiments, contributors mayview profiles and relationships based on user types, such that acontributor's user type determines which profiles and relationships theyare permitted to see. In other embodiments, a contributor may filterwhich profiles and relationships they see by setting a preferenceattribute. The exemplary embodiments are described in further detailbelow.

An exemplary computing environment 200 within which the invention isimplemented is illustrated in FIG. 2. A server 214 configured to accessa database 216 is connected to a data communication network 212, such asa local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or the Internet.Multiple devices including, but not limited to, a laptop computer 202, adesktop computer 204, a smartphone 206, a mobile phone 208, and a tabletor e-reader device 210 are configured to communicate with the server 214via the data communication network 212. In operation, the devices202-210 send commands to the server 214 in response to which the servercreates organizational data representing roles, contributors, teams, andrelationships and stores the organizational data in the database 216. Inother operations, performed separately or in parallel, the server 214retrieves the organizational data from the database 216 and sends it tothe devices 202-210 via the data communication network 212. The devices202-210 use the organizational data to perform various functions, suchas to create visual depictions illustrating roles, contributors, teams,and relationships. One or more of the devices 202-216 may be configuredto implement the invention within a cloud computing environment.

Referring to FIG. 3, a diagrammatic view of an example computer system300 configured according to the invention is illustrated. Any one of thedevices 202-214 of FIG. 2 may be configured as illustrated in FIG. 3.Computer system 300 includes a bus 302 or other communication mechanismfor communicating information, and a processor 304 coupled with bus 302for processing information. Computer system 300 also includes a mainmemory 306, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamicstorage device, coupled to bus 302 for storing information andinstructions to be executed by processor 304. Main memory 306 also maybe used for storing temporary variables or other intermediateinformation during execution of instructions to be executed by processor304. Computer system 300 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 308or other static storage device coupled to bus 302 for storing staticinformation and instructions for processor 304. A storage device 310,such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus302 for storing information and instructions.

Computer system 300 may be coupled via bus 302 to a display 312, such asa cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), or an organiclight emitting diode (OLED), for displaying information to a computeruser. An input device 314, including alphanumeric and other keys, iscoupled to bus 302 for communicating information and command selectionsto processor 304. Another type of user input device is a cursor control316, such as a mouse, a trackball, a track pad, or cursor direction keysfor communicating direction information and command selections toprocessor 304 and for controlling cursor movement on display 312. Thecursor control 316 typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, afirst axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the deviceto specify positions in a plane.

The invention is related to the use of computer system 300 fortransmitting, receiving, defining, and depicting organizational datarepresenting roles, contributors, teams, and relationships. According toone embodiment of the invention, the transmitting, receiving, defining,and depicting of organizational data is provided by computer system 300in response to processor 304 executing one or more sequences of one ormore instructions contained in main memory 306. Such instructions may beread into main memory 306 from another computer-readable medium, such asstorage device 310. Execution of the sequences of instructions containedin main memory 306 causes processor 304 to perform the proceduresdescribed herein. One or more processors in a multi-processingarrangement may also be employed to execute the sequences ofinstructions contained in main memory 306. In alternative embodiments,hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of, or in combination with,software instructions to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments ofthe invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing instructions to processor 304 forexecution, or that stores any type of information. Such a medium maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, forexample, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 310. Volatilemedia includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 306. Transmissionmedia includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, includingthe wires associated with bus 302. Transmission media can also take theform of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radiowave and infrared data communications.

Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM,a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave asdescribed hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 304 forexecution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over adata network using a network interface. A network interface local tocomputer system 300 can receive the data and use an infrared transmitterto convert the data to an infrared signal. An infrared detector coupledto bus 302 can receive the data carried in the infrared signal and placethe data on bus 302. Bus 302 carries the data to main memory 306, fromwhich processor 304 retrieves and executes the instructions. Theinstructions received by main memory 306 may optionally be stored onstorage device 310 either before or after execution by processor 304.

Computer system 300 also includes a communication interface 318 coupledto bus 302. Communication interface 318 provides a two-way datacommunication coupling to a network link 320 that is connected to alocal network 322. For example, communication interface 318 may be anwireless network interface controller or a cellular radio to provide adata communication connection. As another example, communicationinterface 318 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a datacommunication connection to a compatible LAN. In any suchimplementation, communication interface 318 sends and receiveselectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams representing various types of information.

Network link 320 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 320 mayprovide a connection through local network 322 to a host computer 324 orto data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 326.ISP 326 in turn provides data communication services through theInternet 328. Local network 322 and Internet 328 both use electrical,electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Thesignals through the various networks and the signals on network link 320and through communication interface 318, which carry the digital data toand from computer system 300, are exemplary forms of carrier wavestransporting the information.

Computer system 300 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link 320 and communicationinterface 318. In any of the embodiments described herein, a server 330might transmit data through Internet 328, ISP 326, local network 322 andcommunication interface 318.

The received instructions may be executed by a processor 304 as they arereceived, and/or stored in storage device 310, or other non-volatilestorage for later execution. In this manner, computer system 300 mayobtain data in the form of a carrier wave. The processor 304 may be aspecialized or dedicated microprocessor that is configured to performparticular tasks according to the invention, by executingmachine-readable software code that defines the particular tasksembodied by the invention.

FIGS. 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 20 illustrate example methods that createand manipulate the organizational data representing roles, contributors,teams, and relationships. According to one series of operationsillustrated in FIG. 4, a first user logs into a system via a userinterface at block 404 and defines a first organizational relationshipat block 406. In another series of operations performed separately or inparallel, a second user logs into a system via a user interface at block410 and defines a second organizational relationship at block 412. Acomputer system configured according to the invention then generates aset of organizational relationships including the first organizationalrelationship and the second organizational relationship at block 414 andstores the set of relationships in a computer-readable medium at block416. Other examples are illustrated in FIGS. 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 20and are discussed in more detail below.

In another series of embodiments, each of the first and secondorganizational relationships consists of a pair of nodes, such that anode may represent a contributor, a role, a contributor in a role, or ateam. Additionally, the nodes may be members or non-members of theorganization, i.e., the node may represent a contributor, a role, acontributor in a role, or team that is internal or external to theorganization. An example embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 5. In thisembodiment, an organization 514 consists of three nodes 502, 504, and506. A first organizational relationship 510 consists of the nodes 502and 504 while a second organizational relationship 512 consists of node506 and a node 508. In this example, node 508 is part of anorganizational relationship but is a non-member of the organization 514because it is external to the organization. In one such embodiment, thecontributor, role, and/or team corresponding to a node in the first orsecond organizational relationship confirms or denies the relationship.In another such embodiment, a user may define a third organizationalrelationship that includes one node from the first pair of nodes and onenode from the second pair of nodes. The third organizationalrelationship may then be stored in a computer-readable medium.

In another series of embodiments, multiple users may define multipleorganizational relationships. A set of organizational relationshipsincluding the multiple organizational relationships is generated andstored in a computer-readable medium. In a series of operationsperformed separately or in parallel, a first user and a second useridentify a first subset and a second subset of organizationalrelationships from the set of organizational relationships,respectively.

According to another series of embodiments, visual depictions aregenerated from the organizational data representing contributors, roles,teams, and relationships. The visual depictions may include a visualrepresentation of multiple profiles corresponding to multiple nodes anda visual representation of multiple relationships. The profiles maycontain various data and contact attributes providing information aboutthe contributor, role, and/or team corresponding to that profile. A dataattribute may contain, for example, reference information about acontributor's or a team's skills, activities, project history, officelocation, team membership, or current assignments. A contact attributefor a contributor or a team may contain, for example, a contributor'spersonal and organizational phone numbers, email addresses, postaladdresses, or other information on ways to communicate with acontributor. Additionally, a profile may contain a link to a data sourcefrom an external third-party or data obtained from such a link. Forexample, a profile may contain information on a contributor's scheduleor availability received from an external calendar utility orinformation on a team's tasks or schedule from an external projectmanagement utility. In addition, a profile may contain a visualindicator of the whether or not the contributor, role, or teamcorresponding to the profile is a member of the organization.

FIG. 6 illustrates a structural hierarchy 600 of data, contact, andother attributes according to an embodiment. In this embodiment, acontributor 602 may be associated with attributes 604 which are dividedinto attribute types 606. The attribute types may include organizationalinformation 608, personal contact information 610, emergency contactinformation 612, personal information 614, activities 616, and works618. Each of these may further include various attributes definingspecific information such as phone numbers, email addresses, projects,and the like.

In an embodiment in which a profile includes one or more contactattributes, a contact attribute may be designated as a preferred contactattribute. In such an embodiment, a preferred contact attribute is onethat is designated by the contributor, role, or team corresponding tothe profile as the preferred method of communication. In someembodiments, a preferred contact attribute may be set according to aschedule, such that the preferred contact attribute automaticallychanges according to the day of the week or the time of day. A profilemay contain a visual indicator of the preferred contact attribute. Alsoin such an embodiment, a contact attribute included in a profile maycontain a visual indicator of a contact type (e.g., telephone, email,instant message service, etc.) and a contact identifier (e.g., telephonenumber, email address, instant messaging service username, etc.). Theviewer may be given the option of selecting the visual indicator of thecontact type, in response to which a communications channelcorresponding to the contact type would open that automaticallyconnected the viewer to the contributor, role, or team corresponding tothe profile using the contact identifier. In such embodiments, thecontact identifier may be hidden from the user, such that a contributormay enable users to communicate with the contributor without revealingthe contributor's contact information.

Such an embodiment is shown in FIG. 7, which illustrates a visualrepresentation of a profile 702 that contains two contact attributesrepresented by visual indicators 704 (an email attribute signified by anenvelope icon) and 706 (a telephone attribute signified by a phoneicon). In this embodiment, the telephone attribute is designated as thepreferred contact attribute, visually indicated by a square surroundingthe phone icon 706. Selecting the square opens a communications channel708 that automatically connects the user to the contributor representedby profile 702 via that user's preferred method of communication (inthis case, a telephone communication channel).

In one embodiment, the visual representation of multiple relationshipsincludes multiple visual indicators of a seniority status of therelationship. A seniority status indicates whether a relationship ishierarchical—i.e., the contributor, role, contributor in a role, or teamcorresponding to one node in the relationship reports directly to and/oris supervised by the contributor, role, contributor in a role, or teamcorresponding to the other node—or collaborative—i.e., both work inconjunction with one another and neither is senior to the other in rankor standing. In another embodiment, the visual representation ofmultiple relationships includes multiple visual indicators of aconfirmation status of the relationship. A confirmation status indicateswhether a relationship that has been defined or proposed by a usercorresponding to one node has been confirmed, denied, or remainsunconfirmed by a user corresponding to the other node.

Such an embodiment is shown in FIG. 8, which illustrates a visualdepiction 800 that includes contributor profiles 802-820 andrelationships 822-828. The seniority statuses of relationships 824 and828 are visually indicated by the orientation of the profilescorresponding to the pair of contributors included in each relationship.Relationship 824 is collaborative wherein neither contributor is seniorto the other, indicated by the side-by-side orientation of contributorprofiles 806 and 808. Relationship 828 is hierarchical whereincontributor 808 is senior to contributor 812, indicated by theorientation of contributor profile 808 above contributor profile 812.

In addition, further information about relationships 822, 824, and 826is indicated by the style and markings of the connectors joining theprofiles corresponding to the pair of contributors included in therelationship. A hierarchical relationship in which the seniorcontributor is the primary contributor to which the subordinatecontributor reports is indicated by a solid connector. A hierarchicalrelationship in which the senior contributor is the secondarycontributor to which the subordinate contributor reports is indicated bya dashed connector. A collaborative relationship in which bothcollaborators are members of the organization is indicated by a solidconnector. A relationship in which one of the collaborators is anon-member of the organization is indicated by a dashed connector. Arelationship that has been confirmed by both contributors is indicatedby arrows at both ends of the connector. Similarly, a relationship thathas been confirmed by only one of the two contributors is indicated byan arrow at that contributor's end of the connector. A relationship thathas been disputed by one of the two contributors is indicated by an ‘X’at that contributor's end of the connector.

Thus, in relationship 822, contributor Jan Man is a secondary supervisorto contributor Amy King, though this has been disputed by Jan Man andremains unconfirmed by Amy King. This is indicated by the dashedconnector joining profiles 808 and 804 and the ‘X’ symbol near profile804. In relationship 828, contributor Amy King is a primary supervisorto contributor Matt Smith, though this remains unconfirmed by eithercontributor. This is indicated by the solid, unmarked joining profiles808 and 812. Relationship 824 is between internal contributors Ed Fungand Amy King but remains unconfirmed by either contributor as indicatedby the unmarked solid line between their corresponding profiles 806 and808. Relationship 826 has been confirmed by external contributor JasonDew but remains unconfirmed by internal contributor Amy King, indicatedby the arrow pointing to profile 810 and the lack thereof near profile808.

In one series of embodiments, various filters may be applied that limitand restrict the profiles and relationships displayed in a visualdepiction. In one such embodiment illustrated from a computer systemperspective in FIG. 9, the system receives a preference attribute from auser at block 904. The preference attribute may be a directive todisplay profiles and relationships that correspond only to certain dataattributes, such as office location, team membership, or skill set. Atblock 906, the system receives a command from the user to generate avisual depiction. At block 908, the system generates the visualdepiction according to the preference attribute received from the userin block 904.

FIG. 10 illustrates the embodiment of FIG. 9 from a user perspective,such that the user logs into the system at block 1004, specifies apreference attribute at block 1006, and sends a command to generate avisual depiction of a set of relationships at block 1008 according tothe preference attribute specified in block 1006.

In another such embodiment, filters are applied in accordance with therights and privileges of the user accessing the system. The user has aunique identifier that is associated with a user type, which in turnspecifies which contributors, roles, teams, relationships, attributes,profiles or other information the user may see. FIG. 11 illustrates anembodiment in which the system receives a unique identifier from a userat block 1104. The system receives a command from a user to generate avisual depiction at block 1106. At block 1108, the system determines theuser type that is associated with the user's unique identifier andgenerates the visual depiction in accordance with the user type at block1110. In this embodiment, the rights and privileges associated with theuser type may be determined automatically by the seniority of thecontributor, role, or team corresponding to the user or set by a systemadministrator who specifies various attributes controlling what a userof the system can do or see.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a structural hierarchy of attributes1200 that may include the rights and privileges of a user. The systemadministrator controls 1202 include visualization configuration settings1204, data entry rights 1206, and visualization rights 1208.Visualization configuration settings 1204 define allowable relationshiptypes, allowed attribute types, attributes in each attribute type, andrequired attributes. Data entry rights 1206 define authorized internalcontributors and authorized external contributors. Visualization rights1208 define user types, viewing rights by user type, and authorizedusers by user type.

In yet another such embodiment, filters may be applied that are specificto the particular profiles and relationships being viewed. These may bespecified by the contributor corresponding to a profile, a system-wideadministrator, a division head, a team leader, or other user. Thefilters may limit the profile attributes or relationships that certainusers can see. In this embodiment, an example of which is illustrated inFIG. 13, the profiles and relationships are associated with profile ruleattributes and relationship rule attributes, respectively. At block1304, a system receives a command from a user to generate a visualdepiction of profiles and relationships. At block 1306, the systemdetermines the rules associated with the profiles and relationships. Atblock 1308, the system generates the visual depiction of the profilesand relationships requested in block 1304 according to, and to theextent permitted by, their associated rules determined in block 1306.

FIGS. 14A, 14B and 14C illustrate an example implementation of theorganizational data according to an embodiment. The organizational dataincludes data structures corresponding to contributors, roles, teams,and relationships. FIG. 14A illustrates an example schema of nodes,wherein nodes may represent contributors 1401, roles 1403, or teams1405. Contributors 1401 include a contributor ID, a contributor firstname, a contributor last name, and an attribute indicating whether thecontributor is internal or external to the organization. Roles 1403include a role ID, role name, and a unique identifier referring to thecontributor who fills the role. Teams 1405 include a team ID and a teamname.

As illustrated by FIGS. 14B and 14C, roles are filled by contributors,and a contributor may fill more than one role. In this embodiment,contributor Bob Smith 1424 fills the roles ‘CEO’ 1422 and ‘Chairman’1418. Contributors Jim Green 1406, Drew Ahmed 1408, Martine Kumar 1412,Clara Ida 1434, and Jan Man 1438 fill the roles ‘Attorney’ 1404, ‘BoardMember’ 1410, ‘Board Member’ 1414, ‘VP Products’ 1426, and ‘VPMarketing’ 1432.

As further illustrated by FIGS. 14B and 14C, relationships 1402, 1416,1420, 1428, 1430, 1436, 1440 may exist between any pair of contributors,roles, or teams. The relationship data structure includes attributesindicating the type of relationship (e.g., hierarchical orcollaborative) the type of organizational membership (internal orexternal), whether or not each node in the relationship has confirmedthe relationship, and the unique identifiers of the nodes in therelationship (e.g., Role ID, Contributor ID, or Team ID). A hierarchicalrelationship includes a supervisory node and a subordinate node, acollaborative relationship includes two collaborator nodes, and a teammembership includes a team node and a member node. In this embodiment,the role ‘CEO’ 1422 is subordinate to the supervisory roles ‘BoardMember’ 1410 and ‘Board Member’ 1414, contributors ‘Clara Ida’ 1434 and‘Jan Man’ 1438 are in a collaborative relationship, and contributors‘Clara Ida’ 1434 and ‘Jan Man’ 1438 are both members of the team ‘NewProducts’ 1442. Additionally, a relationship may exist between a nodeand an external contributor; in this embodiment, the role ‘Attorney’filled by external contributor Jim Green 1406 is in a subordinaterelationship with the role ‘Board Member’ 1414.

Another embodiment of a visual depiction of organizational relationshipsis illustrated in FIG. 15. In this embodiment, “centric” visualizationscan be generated that focus on the relationships and attributes of aparticular contributor. In FIG. 15, both the supervisors 1506 and thesubordinates 1526 of the centric internal contributor 1512 can be seenabove and below, respectively. To the right are collaborators 1516.Connectors such as 1508, 1510, 1518, and 1520 include an indication ofthe confirmation statuses of the corresponding relationships. Theattributes most important to the viewer—basic contact information andtitle—are presented, as are icons that may be clicked to directly accessfurther attributes associated with this contributor. Among theattributes shown is a status message attribute 1514 that conveys thecurrent status, activity or interest of the contributor to the greatercommunity. Also provided in this embodiment is a notice board 1502including various notes, reminders, and other information entered by thecentric contributor or the user viewing the centric contributor'sprofile. In a particular embodiment, the user may choose and/or modifywhich attributes, and which associated icons or on-screen buttons,appear on the visualization 1500 and how they appear. The user may alsoswitch to other types of views and visualizations using an optioncontrol 1524.

FIGS. 16 and 17 depict example embodiments of centric visualizations1600 and 1700 formatted for a device with a small graphic display, suchas a mobile handheld device. In FIG. 16, a subset of the attributes ofthe centric contributor 1602 is shown, with an ‘Info’ icon 1606 that maybe clicked to access further attributes associated with thiscontributor. When the user selects feature 1604 the visualization isupdated to show the first peer or collaborator of centric contributor asdepicted in FIG. 17. FIG. 17 illustrates an example visualization of thecentric contributor's first peer or collaborator 1700 including thecollaborator's profile 1702 and an option 1704 to return to the centricvisualization 1600.

In another series of embodiments, contributors that belong to more thanone relationship chain (i.e., they belong to more than one structurethat exists in the organization) are identified. One such embodiment isaccessed via the relationship view option 1524 described earlier inrelation to FIG. 15. Another such an embodiment is illustrated in FIG.18. The visualization 1800 (FIG. 18) depicts all of roles in whichcontributor Sara Parker participates in the organization. According tothis embodiment, contributor Sara Parker 1802 is depicted along with themany roles she fills in a number of different relationship chains. Thevisualization clusters these roles into three types ofcontributions—roles on teams she is a member of (Team Contributions1804), roles in which she leads a team (Leadership Contributions 1806)and roles in which she collaborates with someone else (CollaborativeContributions 1808).

One of Sara's roles is VP of International Marketing 1810, which is inthe relationship chain Main Organization 1811 and is part of theExecutive Marketing Team 1812 led by Brad Gettyburg 1813 who fills therole EVP, Marketing 1814. In this role, Sara leads the InternationalBrand Management Team 1822. Thus, the role VP of International Marketingappears in the visualization twice (1810 and 1820), along with theassociated Main Organization relationship chain (1811 and 1821), andreports-to leader Brad Gettyburg (1813 and 1823) in his EVP, Marketingrole (1814 and 1824).

Two other roles of Sara Parker that are shown in the visualization 1800are both called VP Market Research 1830 and 1840 even though they areseparate roles in two separate relationship chains. These relationshipchains represent two business units, one being the Desktop ProductsGroup relationship chain 1831 and the other being the Mobile ProductsGroup relationship chain 1841. In the Desktop Products Group 1831, therole VP Market Research 1830 is on the Desktop Products Marketing team1832 and Sara reports to Mary Smith 1833 in her role as EVP, DesktopMarketing 1834. As VP Market Research 1840 in the Mobile Products Group1841, Sara is on a different team, Mobile Products Marketing 1842, andreports to a different person, Harry Evans 1843. Since these two rolesare leadership roles, they appear again in the Leadership Contributionscluster 1806.

In this embodiment, the user or users defining the roles andrelationships have determined that the two VP Market Research roles 1830and 1840 are distinct, one serving the Desktop Products Group and theother serving the Mobile Products Group. Thus, in this example, role1830 and role 1840 each have a unique “role ID” in the underlying datastructure. This allows each of these roles to have its own distinctprofile and attributes, even though they happen to share the same name(VP Market Research) and are filled by the same contributor Sara Parker1802. Alternatively, the user or users defining these roles maydetermine that the VP Market Research role is a single role sharedacross multiple relationships chains. In this case, role 1830 and role1840 would share the same unique role ID in the underlying datastructure and be associated with a single profile corresponding to theattributes of this single role that serves two separate business units.

In another role, Sara contributes to the Lean Initiative Steering team1852 that is in the Lean Initiative relationship chain 1851. In the roleSales Process Specialist 1850, Sara is an individual contributor and hasno subordinates. Thus, this role does not appear in the roles clusteredunder Leadership Contributions 1806. In any particular relationshipchain, the most senior role at the top node of the chain appears only inthe Leadership Contributions cluster 1806, all non-collaborative rolesthat have no subordinates appear only in the Team Contributions cluster1804, and all other non-collaborative roles appear in both theLeadership Contribution cluster 1806 and the Team Contributions cluster1804.

One of Sara's Collaborative Contributions 1808 is the role of Mentor1860 to John Miller 1863 who is a Product Manager 1864 and leads theMobile Product Management team 1862. This role is also in the DesktopProducts Group relationship chain 1861.

Another such embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 19. In a visualization1900, according to this embodiment, a profile for contributor Amy King1902 is depicted along with the various teams that Amy King is a memberof, namely R&D 1904, Demo Soccer 1906, Alpha 1908, Health & Safety 1910,NexGen 1910, and Vancouver 1914. Each team is depicted along with anattribute describing the nature of the team (e.g., club, committee,location, product team, etc.).

FIG. 20 illustrates an example method of an embodiment in which arelationship is defined by a first user involving a node correspondingto the first user and a node corresponding to a second user. Thus, inthis example, the relationship has two ends: the first user's end andthe second user's end. A relationship is confirmed when the first endand the second end are each confirmed by the first user and the seconduser, respectively. At operation 2002, a first user logs into thesystem. At operation 2004, the first user submits a request to add arelationship, which is added as a proposed relationship at operation2006. Because the first user has added a relationship involving himself,the first user's end of the relationship is automatically confirmed atoperation 2008. At operation 2010, a determination is made whether thefirst user has sufficient rights to unilaterally define a confirmed newrelationship without the consent of the second user. If the first userhas sufficient rights, the second user's end is also automaticallyconfirmed, resulting in confirmation of the relationship at operation2014 and conclusion of the method at operation 2016. If the first userdoes not have sufficient rights, the second user's end remainsunconfirmed awaiting action from the second user at step 2026.

In a series of operations performed separately or in parallel, a seconduser logs into the system at step 2018. A determination is made whetherthe second user has sufficient rights to confirm an end of arelationship at step 2020. If the user does not have sufficient rights,the method concludes at step 2022. If the user has sufficient rights, anoption allowing the second user to confirm their end of the relationshipis enabled at operation 2024. The second user may accept therelationship at step 2030, resulting in confirmation of the seconduser's end at operation 2012 and confirmation of the relationship atoperation 2014. Alternatively, the second user may deny the relationshipat operation 2028, in which case the relationship is deleted atoperation 2032. The method then concludes at operation 2016.

FIGS. 21A, 21B, 22A, 22B, and 22C illustrate an example embodiment ofthe approach in operation. The visual depictions corresponding tovarious operations are illustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B, while theunderlying data structures representing the depicted organizational dataare illustrated in FIGS. 22A, 22B, and 22C. At operation 2110 in FIG.21A, a user logs in to the system. Using her unique identifier 2111, thesystem identifies the user as contributor Beth Jackson and displays a“centric” visualization (described above and illustrated in FIG. 15)focused on contributor Beth Jackson at operation 2120. The visualizationincludes profiles 2121, 2122, 2123, 2124, and 2125 of contributor TimSchuster filling the role of Production Manager, contributor BethJackson filling the role of Retail Supervisor, contributor ChrisPetersen filling the role of Accounting Representative, contributorTyler Meas filling the role of Retail Clerk, and contributor Jesse Westfilling the role of Sales Associate, respectively.

FIG. 22A illustrates the underlying data structures corresponding to thedata displayed at operation 2120. The role Retail Supervisor 2208(filled by contributor Beth Jackson 2210) is a subordinate in itsrelationship 2206 with the role Production Manager 2204 (filled bycontributor Tim Schuster 2202) and a superior in its relationships 2212and 2214 with the roles Retail Clerk 2218 (filled by contributor TylerMeas 2224) and Sales Associate 2220 (filled by contributor Jesse West2226), respectively. Additionally, contributor Beth Jackson 2210 is in acollaborative relationship with contributor Chris Petersen 2222 whofills the role Accounting Representative 2228.

Returning to FIG. 21A, at operation 2130, the user selects an option tomanage her relationships. A view enabling the user to modifyrelationships is displayed at operation 2140. This view includes icons2141, 2142, and 2143 enabling the user to delete the indicatedrelationships and icons 2144 and 2145 enabling the user to remove thecontributors corresponding to the indicated profiles from the listedroles. Because the role filled by contributor Beth Jackson (who has beenidentified by the system as the user) is subordinate to the role filledby contributor Tim Schuster, she is not given the option to removecontributor Tim Schuster from his role or modify her role's relationshipwith his role. Similarly, because contributor Chris Petersen is notsubordinate to contributor Beth Jackson and because the collaborativerelationship between them is between the contributors and not the roles,the user is not given the option to remove contributor Chris Petersonfrom his role Accounting Representative.

The user selects icon 2141 severing the relationship between contributorBeth Jackson and contributor Chris Petersen and icon 2144 removingcontributor Tyler Meas from the role Retail Clerk. At operation 2150, anupdated visualization is displayed reflecting the modifications made inoperation 2140. Because the relationship between contributor BethJackson and contributor Chris Peterson was deleted, the profilecorresponding to contributor Chris Petersen has been removed from view.However, although contributor Tyler Meas was removed from his role ofRetail Clerk, because the relationship between the roles RetailSupervisor and Retail Clerk still exists, the profile 2151 is updated tolist Retail Clerk as an unfilled role.

FIG. 22B illustrates the underlying data structures corresponding to thedata displayed at operation 2150. The contributor Chris Petersen 2222and his role Accounting Representative 2228 from FIG. 22A are absentfrom FIG. 22B because the relationship between contributor ChrisPetersen 2222 and contributor Beth Jackson 2210 has been deleted.Contributor Tyler Meas 2224 from FIG. 22A is absent from FIG. 22Bbecause he has been removed from the role Retail Clerk 2218. The roleRetail Clerk 2218 (along with its relationship 2212 with role RetailSupervisor 2208) is present but is unfilled by a contributor.

Returning to FIG. 21B, an option 2152 to add a contributor to theprofile 2151 corresponding to the unfilled role Retail Clerk isdisplayed. Selecting this option takes the user to a search interface atoperation 2160. A user search for the string ‘Green’ prompts the user atoperation 2170 with three profiles 2171, 2172, and 2173, eachaccompanied by an option to add the node corresponding to the profile tothe role Retail Clerk. In this example, the user selects the option 2174accompanying the profile corresponding to contributor Jeff Green. Atoperation 2180, an updated visualization including a profile 2181corresponding to user Jeff Green and listing the role Retail Clerk isdisplayed in place of the profile 2151 corresponding to the unfilledrole Retail Clerk.

FIG. 22C illustrates the underlying data structures corresponding to thedata displayed at operation 2180. Contributor Jeff Green 2230 now fillsthe role Retail Clerk 2218.

As discussed herein, the invention may involve a number of functions tobe performed by a computer processor, such as a microprocessor. Themicroprocessor may be a specialized or dedicated microprocessor that isconfigured to perform particular tasks according to the invention, byexecuting machine-readable software code that defines the particulartasks embodied by the invention. The microprocessor may also beconfigured to operate and communicate with other devices such as directmemory access modules, memory storage devices, Internet relatedhardware, and other devices that relate to the transmission of data inaccordance with the invention. The software code may be configured usingsoftware formats such as Java, C++, XML (Extensible Mark-up Language)and other languages that may be used to define functions that relate tooperations of devices required to carry out the functional operationsrelated to the invention. The code may be written in different forms andstyles, many of which are known to those skilled in the art. Differentcode formats, code configurations, styles and forms of software programsand other methods of configuring code to define the operations of amicroprocessor in accordance with the invention will not depart from thespirit and scope of the invention.

Within the different types of devices, such as laptop or desktopcomputers, hand held devices with processors or processing logic, andcomputer servers or other devices that utilize the invention, thereexist different types of memory devices for storing and retrievinginformation while performing functions according to the invention. Cachememory devices are often included in such computers for use by thecentral processing unit as a convenient storage location for informationthat is frequently stored and retrieved. Similarly, a persistent memoryis also frequently used with such computers for maintaining informationthat is frequently retrieved by the central processing unit, but that isnot often altered within the persistent memory, unlike the cache memory.Main memory is also usually included for storing and retrieving largeramounts of information such as data and software applications configuredto perform functions according to the invention when executed by thecentral processing unit. These memory devices may be configured asrandom access memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), flash memory, and other memory storagedevices that may be accessed by a central processing unit to store andretrieve information. During data storage and retrieval operations,these memory devices are transformed to have different states, such asdifferent electrical charges, different magnetic polarity, and the like.Thus, systems and methods configured according to the invention asdescribed herein enable the physical transformation of these memorydevices. Accordingly, the invention as described herein is directed tonovel and useful systems and methods that, in one or more embodiments,are able to transform the memory device into a different state. Theinvention is not limited to any particular type of memory device, or anycommonly used protocol for storing and retrieving information to andfrom these memory devices, respectively.

Embodiments of the systems and methods described herein facilitate theidentification, organization and display of organizational information.Additionally, some embodiments are used in conjunction with one or moreconventional information processing systems. For example, one embodimentis used as an improvement of existing systems and methods foridentifying, organizing and displaying organizational information.

Although the components and modules illustrated herein are shown anddescribed in a particular arrangement, the arrangement of components andmodules may be altered to manage information in a different manner. Inother embodiments, one or more additional components or modules may beadded to the described systems, and one or more components or modulesmay be removed from the described systems. Alternate embodiments maycombine two or more of the described components or modules into a singlecomponent or module.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described andillustrated, the invention is not to be limited to the specific forms orarrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The scope of theinvention is to be defined by the claims appended hereto and theirequivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of generating a visualrepresentation of a structure of an organization of humans, the methodcomprising: receiving data from a plurality of users, the data defininga plurality of organizational relationships between organizational rolesto be undertaken by members of the organization, said receivingincluding at least receiving data from a first user defining a firstorganizational relationship between organizational roles and receivingdata from a second user defining a second organizational relationshipbetween organizational roles, wherein the data is received at a computerserver from a plurality of network devices coupled to the computerserver via a network, and wherein at least one of the organizationalroles is common to both the first and second organizationalrelationships, and wherein at least one of the organizationalrelationships so defined is hierarchical, and wherein the organizationalroles can each be filled by a member of the organization or unfilled andwherein an individual member of the organization can fill more than oneorganizational role; generating a structure of the organization from thedata defining the plurality of organizational relationships, thestructure having a plurality of connected nodes, wherein organizationalroles are represented by nodes and relationships between these nodes arerepresented by connections between these nodes and wherein there is nota one-to-one correspondence of organizational roles to members of theorganization; and displaying a visual representation of the structure.2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data defining each ofthe plurality of organizational relationships further identifies and atype of the relationship between the pair of roles and wherein at leasttwo types of relationships between pairs of roles is represented in thestructure.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a first type ofrelationship between pairs of roles is hierarchical and a second type ofrelationship between pairs of roles is collaborative.
 4. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein hierarchical relationships between pairsof roles are represented in the visual representation by verticalorientation of the corresponding pair of nodes.
 5. The method accordingto claim 3, wherein collaborative relationships between pairs of rolesare represented in the visual representation by horizontal orientationof the corresponding pair of nodes.
 6. The method according to claim 2,wherein a first type of relationship between pairs of roles ishierarchical and wherein a particular node has both a primaryhierarchical relationship and a secondary hierarchical relationship. 7.The method according to claim 6, wherein the primary hierarchicalrelationship is represented in the visual representation by a solid lineconnector and the secondary hierarchical relationship is represented inthe visual representation by a dashed line connector.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising receiving data identifying anorganizational relationship between a role of the organization and anentity outside of the organization and including a representation of therelationship between the role of the organization and the entity outsideof the organization in the visual representation of the structure. 9.The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving dataidentifying a team contributing to the organization and including arepresentation of the team in the visual representation of thestructure.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein nodes within thevisual representation of the structure each represents a team.
 11. Themethod according to claim 9, wherein a collection of nodes within thevisual representation of the structure represents a team.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 9, wherein the representation for a particular teamcomprises profile data for each of a plurality of individual members ofthe organization.
 13. The method according to claim 9, wherein therepresentation for a particular team comprises profile data for aplurality of roles.
 14. The method according to claim 1, wherein atleast some roles are filed by individual members of the organization andat least one role is unfilled.
 15. The method according to claim 1,wherein multiple instances of a specific role appear in the visualrepresentation.
 16. The method according to claim 1, wherein aparticular individual member of the organization fills a plurality ofroles within the organization and each role of the particular individualis represented by a different node.
 17. The method according to claim16, wherein the nodes representing each role of the particularindividual occupy different positions in the structure of theorganization.
 18. The method according to claim 16, further comprisingselectively displaying the different positions in the structure of theorganization that are occupied by the nodes representing each role ofthe particular individual.
 19. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe visual representation of the structure includes at least one visualindicator of a confirmation status of an organizational relationshiprepresented in the visual representation.
 20. The method according toclaim 1, further comprising receiving profile data for members of theorganization and wherein the visual representation of the structureincludes visual representations of the profile data in association withthe role or roles filled by such members.
 21. The method according toclaim 20, wherein the profile data identifies a type of individualcontributor to the organization.
 22. The method according to claim 21,wherein the profile data includes a preferred contact attribute for theindividual contributor.
 23. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising receiving at least one filter preference from a user andwherein the visual representation of the structure is determinedaccording to the filter preference or a combination of filterpreferences.
 24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the visualrepresentation of the structure is displayed differently for differentusers.
 25. The method according to claim 24, wherein only a portion ofthe structure of the organization is included in the visualrepresentation of the structure available to a particular user.
 26. Themethod according to claim 24, further comprising associating a user witha user type and wherein visual representation of the structure isdetermined according to the user type.
 27. The method according to claim1, further comprising incrementally receiving data definingorganizational relationships and incrementally updating the structure ofthe organization in response to the incrementally received data.
 28. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the first user is a member of theorganization and wherein the data defining the first organizationalrelationship defines a relationship between a role filled by the firstuser and at least one other member of the organization.
 29. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein a plurality of users are each allowed toadd and modify relationships of which the user is a part of or isotherwise directly responsible for.
 30. The method according to claim29, wherein the user's ability to make additions and modifications islimited by rules that are specifically applied to a user or group ofusers.
 31. The method according to claim 1, wherein the visualrepresentation of the structure shows a subset of the nodes with aparticular node corresponding to a particular member being centric to adisplay area.
 32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the visualrepresentation shows only relationships, roles and profile data for theparticular member.
 33. The method according to claim 1, wherein visualrepresentation of the structure includes profile data associated with arole or team where the profile includes a link to a third party datasource.
 34. The method according to claim 1, wherein visualrepresentation of the structure includes profile data associated with arole or team where the profile includes data received from a third partydata source.
 35. A system for generating a visual representation of astructure of an organization of humans, the system comprising: acomputer server configured to receive data from a plurality of users,the data defining a plurality of organizational relationships betweenorganizational roles to be undertaken by members of the organization,including at least data from a first user defining a firstorganizational relationship between organizational roles and data from asecond user defining a second organizational relationship betweenorganizational roles, and wherein at least one of the organizationalroles is common to both the first and second organizationalrelationships, and wherein at least one of the organizationalrelationships so defined is hierarchical, and wherein the organizationalroles can each be filled by a member of the organization or unfilled andwherein an individual member of the organization can fill more than oneorganizational role and wherein the computer server is furtherconfigured to generate a structure of the organization from the datadefining the plurality of organizational relationships, the structurehaving a plurality of connected nodes, wherein roles are represented bynodes and relationships between these nodes are represented byconnections between these nodes and wherein there is not a one-to-onecorrespondence of organizational roles to members of the organization;and a plurality of network devices coupled to the computer server via anetwork wherein the data defining the plurality of organizationalrelationships is received from the network devices via the network andwherein the plurality of network devices are configured to display avisual representation of the structure.
 36. The method according toclaim 17, wherein the nodes representing each role of the particularindividual are within different business units of the organization. 37.The method according to claim 18, further comprising providing agraphical user interface for navigating among the different positions inthe structure of the organization that are represented by the nodescorresponding to each role of the particular individual.
 38. Anon-transitory computer readable media having stored thereon computercode which when executed by a processor causes the processor to performa method of generating a visual representation of a structure of anorganization of humans, the method comprising: receiving data from aplurality of users, the data defining a plurality of organizationalrelationships between organizational roles to be undertaken by membersof the organization, said receiving including at least receiving datafrom a first user defining a first organizational relationship betweenorganizational roles and receiving data from a second user defining asecond organizational relationship between organizational roles, andwherein at least one of the organizational roles is common to both thefirst and second organizational relationships, and wherein at least oneof the organizational relationships so defined is hierarchical, andwherein the organizational roles can each be filled by a member of theorganization or unfilled and wherein an individual member of theorganization can fill more than one organizational role; generating astructure of the organization from the data defining the plurality oforganizational relationships, the structure having a plurality ofconnected nodes, wherein organizational roles are represented by nodesand relationships between these nodes are represented by connectionsbetween these nodes and wherein there is not a one-to-one correspondenceof organizational roles to members of the organization; and displaying avisual representation of the structure.